With the split, Sacramento State moved to 26-20 overall this season while Stanford is now 32-8. The Cardinal, which had won five-straight games entering the doubleheader, is currently ranked seventh in the ESPN/USA Softball national poll. The victory for the Hornets was their first over Stanford since 2003, and the first over a ranked opponent this year.

The first game was the longest of the season for both teams as Sacramento State and Stanford both had 14 hits. The Cardinal left 15 runners on base while the Hornets stranded 14 runners.

With runners at first and second, and two outs in the bottom of the 11th inning, Erin Coyne''s ground ball deflected far enough off the glove of Stanford first baseman Erin Howe to allow Johnson to score all the way from second base for the game-winning run. With one out in the inning, Johnson picked up her third hit of the day before being sacrificed to second base by Lesley Mayhorn. With two outs, Lindy Winkler, who leads the Hornets with a .377 batting average, was intentionally walked. That set up Coyne''s ground ball which ended a game that lasted three hours, 10 minutes.

Sacramento State pitchers Brianne Ferguson (6.0 innings, eight hits, two runs, two walks and six strikeouts) and Nikki Cinque (five innings, six hits, one walk and two strikeouts) combined to throw all 11 innings with Cinque picking up the victory. The junior right-hander, who escaped a first and third, no out situation in the seventh inning, improved her record to 13-7 with the win.

Sacramento State scored the first two runs of the game in the second inning after a single by Jessica Rojo scored Amy Hillel and Gloria Toledo. The Hornets stranded at least one runner in each of the first six innings of the game before Stanford starter Becky McCullough settled down and retired 11 Hornets in a row from the seventh inning until midway through the 10th. McCullough (13-2) went the distance, allowing three runs (two earned) and 14 hits while striking out 10 in 10.2 innings.

The Cardinal tied the game in the sixth inning with a two-out, two-run single by Catalina Morris scoring both Katherine Hoffman and Tricia Aggabao. Stanford stranded runners in every inning but the third and the 10th, and Jackie Rinehart was thrown out trying steal second by Hornet catcher Joanna O’Neill to end the 10th inning.

Besides Johnson, other Hornets with multiple-hit games included Winkler (2-for-5 with a double), Gloria Toledo (2-for-5), Amy Hillel (2-for-5) and O’Neill (2-for-5). Hillel had a handful of sparkling defensive plays during the game, including a short-hop line drive that she fielded flawlessly to end the ninth inning.

In the second game, Stanford scored 10 runs in the first, four in the second, one in the third, and one more in the fifth as the Cardinal eventually enforced the eight-run mercy rule after the fifth inning. Stanford hit a total of six home runs in the game, including two from Morris, who finished 2-for-2 with a walk, three runs and four RBIs. Other Stanford players to hit homers were Lauren Lappin (2-for-3 with two runs and three RBIs), Michelle Smith (2-for-4 with two runs and three RBIs), Leah Nelson (1-for-2 with two runs and an RBI) and Howe (1-for-2 with a run and three RBIs).

Stanford’s Laura Severson (13-4) picked up the victory, allowing one run and one hit in four innings. Laura Nydam pitched the final inning in relief, allowing one hit. In her fifth start of the season, Sacramento State’s Jennifer Fryou (0-4) picked up the loss, pitching all five innings.

Sacramento State heads into its most crucial part of the season as the team travels to Portland State this weekend for a Pacific Coast Softball Conference four-game series. The Hornets (8-4) are currently in second place in the conference standings, two games behind first-place Loyola Marymount (10-2) with eight league games remaining on the schedule. The first-place team in the PCSC at the end of the season will receive an automatic berth into the NCAA Regionals which begins on May 20.